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CLASS  0FI886;PaD.  THE  JOHNS  HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


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Form  No.   471 


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23(1  CoNGUEss,  I    Rep.    No.   441.    J  Ho.  OF  Reps. 

\st  Session. 


JAMES  ELDER. 


May  2,  1834. 

Read,  and  laid  upon  the  table. 


Mr.  E.  Whittlesey,  from  the  Committee  of  Claims,  made  the  following 

REPORT : 

The  Commiltee  on    Claims,   to   which  was  referred  the  petition  of  James 

Elder,  report. 

That  the  petitioner  was  employed  to  transport  the  baggage  of  a  part  of 
tiie  Ciicrokec  tribe  of  Indians  in  North  Carolina, thatemigratcd  west  of  the 
Mississippi.  Hesays,  and  it  is  proven  by  the  deposition  of  Ruiey  Jackson, 
that  in  crossing  Beaver  dam  creek  a  tributary  of  the  Hiwapee,  he  lost  two 
horses  by  drowning  of  the  value  of  seventy  dollars  eacli.  The  loss  of 
the  horses  was  reported  by  Lieutenant  J.  W.  Harris,  a  disbursing  agent  of 
the  party  aforesaid,  so  that  the  fact  of  the  loss  may  be  considered  as  es- 
tablished. The  said  agent  represents  the  loss  as  being  one  that  seriously 
effects  the  property  of  the  petitioner,  and  he  expresses  a  doubt  whether  it 
is  of  the  character  guarded  against  by  the  <'  regulations  concerning  the 
removal  of  the  Indians."  The  petitioner  was  employed  under  a  contract, 
and  was  paid  a  specific  sum  for  his  services,  but  whether  by  the  hundred, 
job,  or  by  the  day,  does  not  appear.  The  clause  referred  to  in  the  regula- 
tions by  Lieutenant  Harris,  is  as  follows.  "  The  United  States  will  not 
be  responsible  for  any  accidents.'*  He  says  tlie  contract  was  not  an  ex- 
ception to  the  clause  cited  above,  but  he  says  IJiat  Elder's  character  is 
good,  and  that  he  had  been  water-bound  at  the  creek  for  several  days  ; 
that  the  provisions  of  the  party  were  exhausted,  and  that  in  that  wilder- 
ness of  country  it  was  either  swim  or  starve.  "  He  says  further,  the  emi- 
grants who  were  with  the  wagon,  make  some  claims  he  understands  fop 
the  loss  of  property  caused  by  the  upsetting  of  the  wagon  in  the  creek, 
and  some  of  these  say  it  was  owing  to  mismanagement  that  the  accident 
happened,  and  that  it  was  difticut  to  find  the  truth." 

The  committee  think  the  United  States  are  not  holden  to  give  any  com- 
pensation for  the  loss.  The  Secretary  of  War,  out  of  an  abundance  of 
caution,  inserted  a  clause  in  the  regulations,  stating  in  explicit  terms  that 
the  United  States  would  not  be  responsible  for  any  accidents.  The  com- 
mittee do  not  see  how  they  could  recommend  that  this  property  be  paid 
for,  without  establishing  the  principle,  that  the  United  States  are  holden, 
as  the  insurers  of  the  property  of  every  person  employed  in  their  service. 
They  recommend  the  adoption  of  the  following  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  the  prayer  of  the  petition  of  James  Elder  ought  not  to 
be  granted. 

^  [Gales  &  Seaton,  print.] 


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